Android Central Editors' app picks for March 19, 2011

Whether you just picked up a HTC Thunderbolt this week, or you have been an Android lover for a while now, finding new useful applications can be a struggle at times. Let us share with you some of our favorites that we have found, and hopefully you will find them useful as well. Join us after the break to see what we have in store for this week.

Sean Brunett - Al Jazeera LIVE

The situations occurring all over the Middle East are incredibly important, and gaining access to credible information can be difficult. Al Jazeera has covered the events very well, even under the threats of regimes. Their Android app is top notch, much better than many of the alternatives. It allows users to stream their feed either in Arabic or English 24/7. Once the app is open, it gives you three options: Arabic, English, or Video News Bulletin, which gives you some archived footage from the day’s events. It’s a must for anyone wanting access to coverage on the go. Available for free from the Android Market. [Market Link]

Menno - Subsonic

I got my first CD in 1996, and since then I've purchased thousands of songs. Even with a 16GB card I can still only hold a fraction of the music I own, which is why I decided to give Subsonic a try. How subsonic works is you download the client onto your computer (Windows, OSX or Linux), configure your network settings, and then tell it where you store your music. Afterwards, you create a unique web address (username.Subsonic.org) that lets you log in from anywhere and stream non-DRM protected files to your hearts content. You can even create "guest" accounts for your friends, with their own unique set of permissions. The sound quality of the songs isn't bad, but I miss the control PowerAmp gave me. Still, It's a nicer alternative than constantly cycling through the music I can fit on my SD card. The app is free, but the server will set you back a one time fee of 10pounds (Approximately $16.14 USD) after a one month trial period. [Market Link]

Jared DiPane - Photile Live Wallpaper

The official Lloyd wallpaper is one of my personal favorites, but sometimes I do like to change things up, and I found the perfect way to do so. Having a static wallpaper is no fun for me, especially when you can have on that moves, and Photile Live Wallpaper allows me to do exactly that. The settings will allow you to select a wallpaper from your gallery, or just to simply set various colors in the squares, or shape of choice, and just like that you have a custom live wallpaper! If you are looking for a great, free, easily customizable live wallpaper you won't want to miss this. [Market Link]

Jerry Hildenbrand - Stupid Zombies

I'm a sucker for anything Zombies. I will watch any movie, read any book, and download any app that features them. Quite often I'm disappointed, but not this time. Stupid Zombies is a physics puzzle game, very much like Angry Birds, but instead of a slingshot that fires birds at pigs, you have a shotgun with various bullets to fire at ugly, stupid zombies. There's 300 levels, four types of ammo, and a seemingly endless string of zombies in need of killing. Add in Open Feint, and it makes for a very fun game. It's free (Android 2.2 or higher), will move to the SD card, and available on the market. [Market link]

It's always awesome to see Subsonic love :) I've been using it for about nine months, and honestly can't imagine listening to music without it. Having access to ~200GB of music at my fingertips is something entirely too awesome to go without.

If you prefer another player, you could always just download via Subsonic and play via a better local player. I'll admit that the player isn't the best, but for cases like that I just download + open in WinAmp.

You missed that it also does video streaming, although I don't suggest it unless you have a good connection.

Anybody ever figure out why so many of these apps need "read phone status and identity" permissions? I'm concerned that the developers are getting the phone numbers of people who call me. And the Zombie game needs "retrieve running applications" permission. WTF? And "full internet access" should be limited to "Google ads servers".

Most of the music apps need "read phone state" so they will stop playing music when a phone call comes in and start it back up again when the call is over. Paranoia is not necessarily healthy. Most people have good hearts and I think your fears are a little unrational.

^what he said. Also I'm not sure how exactly the OS handles this, but when a call or text comes in on a CDMA network, it will interrupt the data stream to deliver it. It's possible the dev is simply handling this so their app doesn't keep trying to access something that is not available. Again though, it is possible the OS just handles this potential issue... I haven't been through the documentation that thoroughly...

Much like the Main Stream US media reporting that Iraq had WMD, but all of the rest of the world's intelligence agencies said BS? It's a good idea to get your news from a wide range of places. Al Jazeera provides an alternative. NO news source is unbiased. That's why you go to numerous sources and form your own conclusions!

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